Fossil, in partnership with Sony Ericsson, today introduced a new line of Bluetooth-enabled watches that deliver the time in a traditional analog format, but connects to a user’s mobile phone wirelessly to do a whole lot more digitally. Based on existing Fossil designs, the water resistant timepieces include a bright OLED display to allow people to view Caller ID and number information plus a vibrating alert for incoming calls or SMS/MMS messages. There's also an out of range warning where the watch vibrates after 10 meters.

The idea is it’s harder or impossible to a miss vibration on your wrist than the ringer or vibration of your phone when it is hidden away in your briefcase, coat, backpack, etc. and you can't hear it when walking down a city avenue, for example, according to to Fossil VP of Watch Technology Bill Geiser. "The rest is natural, people have been wearing watches for hundreds of years. That motion of just glancing at your wrist is something that is almost instinctive," he said to PDAStreet.

The digital display is almost hidden. It comes into play only when needed. If a caller's name is in the phone’s address book, you see the name, if not, you see the number.

One button push mutes the phone's ringer, while two button pushes rejects a call. The watch's lithium rechargeable battery is supposed to last for about 5-7 days.

Geiser emphasized the Bluetooth watch is about convenience. He added that Fossil is giving you an ability to stay connected in a discreet way. "Let's face it; cell phone use in public areas is under scrutiny these days. And people using cell phones in restaurants and movie theaters and so on, there's a social etiquette, stigma emerging around this," noted Geiser. "We give you the ability to always stay connected but do it in a very discreet and socially acceptable way."

Fossil has been pretty aggressive in developing watches that combine elements of fashion and technology over the years. While the now defunct (and bulky) Wrist PDA and still shipping Microsoft-based SPOT watches never delivered on their promise, Geiser said to PDAStreet the company learned a lot from these endeavors: How do integrate a lot of functionality into a small amount of space and that fashion trumps function. Also, those watches were all digitals, a problem for a watchmaker whose market is 98 percent analog timepieces.

To succeed Geiser told us Fossil decided the watches would have to look good, incorporating the current fashion elements, trends and designs. "There's no reason a technology watch needs to look like a technology watch," he said.

Also, it would have to be affordable and simple to use. Unlike the SPOT watch and Wrist PDA, which were complicated because they asked folks to do much. And whatever function Fossil asked the new watches to perform, it would be okay for them to do less, but it must be relevant.

So instead of viewing the cell phone as a threat to watches, the way some do - as does camera (Nokia is now the leading camera vendor) and audio player makers – because all handsets feature a time function, Geiser says his company sees them as an opportunity, where a watch could simplify how people interact with their cell phones and smartphones.

What made this possible is the huge (40 percent in 2006, with estimates of 65 percent next year) growth in penetration of Bluetooth in the mobile handset market.

Late last year, Fossil entered into the partnership with Sony Ericsson to build the new watches and create the software that made the connectivity possible.

The watches work initially with Sony Ericsson phones. Geiser said to PDAStreet, however, that very quickly - over the next month or so - they would add support for the S60 platform, running on Symbian 7, 8 and 8.1. They are looking at the most recent version, 9, but a couple of security features have created some problems that Fossil technicians need to navigate around.

Fossil will continue to look at additional mobile handsets and platforms as well. "We'd like to move very aggressively at expanding the compatibility list. Things being the way they are that was a good place for us to start," Geiser explained.

The watch maker will market a Fossil-branded Bluetooth watch, the Caller ID FX6001 (black ionic plated stainless steel case and bracelet-style strap), for $250 in late October. And there will be two AABACUS MobileWear versions as well, the AU6001 (stainless steel case and bracelet) and AU6002 (stainless steel case and black strap), for $200. These will be available in the U.S., UK and Germany through consumer electronic and wireless outlets in mid October- for example CompUSA in this country.

Sony Ericsson's edition of the Bluetooth watch, called the MBW-100, is stainless steel and it adds the ability to control the music player (play/pause and skip tracks) capabilities for its Walkman line of phones. It comes in silver and there will be a limited edition black version, both due to ship worldwide during the fourth quarter for about 300 Euros (around $382). MBW-100 weighs 6.61 ounces (187.5 grams).